Numerous fluid driven apparatuses are well known in the art, such as typical windmills which have been in use for many years and have been highly developed. Fluid driven devices for vehicles are not so well known and those that have been developed are generally used for generating electricity. Such mechanisims are usually air driven, although air or water driven devices are suitable boats, and numerous forms of water driven devices are well known in the hydroelectric generating field.
A rather novel windmill having blades at a cone base which is rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis, is shown in a patent to Worthmann, U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,475. The wind wheel of this patent is also shown in conjunction with an electric generator for an automobile.
A relatively old patent U.S. Pat. No. 1,903,307, shows a wind driven generator adapted to be mounted on a vehicle, and having a plurality of air scoops discharging against a wind wheel rotating about a horizontal axis. Another air driven electric generator for vehicles is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,941,613, has blades extending generally axially of the flow of the air and is mounted on a shaft which also carries an electric generator. Other air driven generators for vehicles are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,503, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,849, the first of these patents having a plurality of generators which may be selectively operated depending on the force of the wind. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,930, shows a wind driven generating assembly mounted atop an automobile and having a ventrishaped air intake for driving pairs of propellers, each pair connected with an electric generator. The wind driven members of these patents rotate about horizontal axes so that considerable height is required for accommodating the wind driven member.